Dorothy Wheeler at 95 had to relearn how to crochet after 3 strokes
FREMONT - When Dorothy Wheeler picked up her first crocheting needle 53 years ago, she had no idea the hobby would one day help her recover from a stroke. Wheeler, 95, was in her forties when she learned to crochet. After a series of strokes left her with mental fog earlier this year, she used crocheting to retrain her brain.
“After I had three strokes, I’d look at my crochet and didn’t know what to do,” Wheeler said.
It was a frustrating and scary season for Wheeler, who had been enjoying the hobby for half a century. She took her first crochet class at age 42.
“A lady was teaching lessons at Ross High School at night. At one class, I told the teacher I couldn’t find my stitch. She started ripping it out, and I just about died. She told me to start over, so I did,” Wheeler said.
She finished the project and returned for the advanced class.
“I paid $12 for a lesson. It was the best $12 I ever spent. I’ve been crocheting ever since,” she said. That long-ago investment helped her regain her health after her strokes.
After suffering from strokes, Wheeler relearned her crocheting skills
“My daughter brought my crocheting brochures to me. I’d study them, and I’d try to remember what my teacher told me. One of the nurses would look at my work, and say, ‘You’re on the right track,’ but she wouldn’t tell me what to do. I had to figure it out,” Wheeler said.
Slowly, her skills returned, and she decided to crochet a doll. In her 50-plus years of crocheting, Wheeler has made and given away dozens of crocheted dolls for free. This one was for her great-granddaughter, Tabitha, and it proved to be more difficult than she anticipated as she dealt with lingering effects from the strokes.
“The doll for Tabitha was a real challenge,” she said. “I did more ripping than crocheting.”
Then Wheeler turned to her greatest resource for help. She prayed.
“She said she prayed that God would help her make it, and the next morning, it just clicked,” said her daughter, Charlene Hernandez.
'I cried because I was so happy I could do it'
Wheeler completed the doll in early September.
“I cried because I was so happy I could do it,” she said.
Giving her hand-crocheted dolls away is one of Wheeler’s greatest pleasures. When, several years ago, she purchased a large lot of plastic dolls for her crochet projects, her late husband asked her what she would do with so many dolls. She replied, “We have a lot of little girls in our subdivision.”
Wheeler has been crocheting the elaborately dressed dolls since she saw one in a Florida craft shop about 25 years ago. After that initial trip, the shop became her first stop on her annual trip to Florida so she could see the latest dolls designs and buy new patterns.
“She’s always been fascinated by ladies in long dresses and ruffles,” Hernandez said.
And little girls have always been fascinated by her dolls. When a friend asked Wheeler to make two dolls — one for herself and one for her daughter with Down syndrome — Wheeler happily made the dolls and then refused payment for her work.
“She sent me a check, and I sent it back. We had that check going back and forth,” she said. “Finally, I told her, ‘If you pay for it, you take the pleasure out of it for me.’ She didn’t send it again.”
Crocheting dolls and giving them away has been a defining element of Wheeler’s 95 years of life.
“I just liked to do it,” she said. “If I saw a little girl and she liked the doll, I’d make one for her.”
Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Relearning to crochet after strokes, Dorothy Wheeler cried with joy
